Car-door operation



Patented Mar. 31, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. H

GEORGE E. OAKLEY, F ALBANY, NEN YORK, ASSIGNOR TO CONSOLIDATED CAR- HEATING COMPANY, OF ALBANY, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION 0F WEST VIR GINIA. 7

Application filed April 21, 1921.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. OAKLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Albany, in the county of Albany and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Door Operation, the following being a full, clear, and exact disclosure of the one form of my invention which I at present deem preferable.

For a detailed description of the present form of my invention, reference may be had to the following specification and to the accompanying drawing forming a part thereof and which shows my invention diagrammatically.

My invention relates to car-doors operated by engines, each under electromagnetic control from a point more or less distant. The

McElroy, and the invention, for purposes of illustration, is assumed to be associated with such a motor, although it is not limited in this particular. In view of the well-known construction and operation of motors of this character detailed illustration thereof is considered unnecessary and hence the valve controlling device is represented only by the magnets which control the door engines. These magnets, andcertain circuit arrange ments therefor, constitute the subject of my I present invention.

Referring to the drawing, doors designated respectively Door No. 2 and Door No. 4 are there shown, these being in the sides of the car near each end. Adjacent to each door is shown a group A of four pushbuttons, operatively associated with the usual line wires 2 and 4. Each group rep resents an operators station at the end of the car, so situated that an operator stand ing between the cars can work all the doors on one side of both cars. The doors on the CAR-DOOR OPERATIONL Serial No. 463,192.

opposite side of both cars are similarly con the reversal of the door from its closing to its opening direction of movement. When the door, after such automatic reversal, reaches its open position, it will again be reversed automatically and will then proceed to complete its interrupted closing operationunless it once moreencounters an obstruction and repeats its automatic reversals. Doors of this kind have been hereto fore used, but I have devised certain im provements which I will now'describe. On the rear edge of the doorare mounted contact brushes F and-G, which, as the door travels back and forth, slide onthe parallel stationary bars K,;K D, and H, H The brush F is a double brush bearing on D and also on K, K of which K is a blank, while brush G is a single brush bearing on H, H of which H is a blank. To brush 1* the door-shoe P is connected and to brush G is connected the contact point E which the door-shoe engages when pressed inward by encountering an obstruction. Bar H is connected to the door-opening control-magi'iet' O and K to the corresponding door-closing.

magnet C. Bar D is the battery supply bar for the door-shoe and is connected to one of the front contacts of a relay R. The func tion of relay R is to maintain, while its armature is attracted, the connection of bar D with the battery byway of wire 14, wire 13, switch M and wire 10. A battery, B on the car has itspositiveterminal connected to said wire 10 and its negative terminal to wire 11. The wires 9, 9 are the usual automatic signal wires containing contacts, at each door which are closed when the door is shut, whereby when all the doors are shut the signal circuit will be completed and the motorman thereby notified to proceed.- Such contacts are shown at N, where they are closed by the door itself, while at M is a second set of contacts also located in the said signal line 9 in series with contacts N, but operated by the rotary arms of the door motor instead of the door. The contacts at M and N are on separate switches of the I i well known snap-toggle type being thrown from one position to the other by a spring when the toggle arms pass the d'eadcenter. In the switch at N the contacts merely open or close a gap in the signal circuit 9, but at M when they open the gap in signal circuit 9 they also proceed to close a gap in another circuit 13 which leads from point a on the positive battery wire 10 to one of front contacts of said relay B. By means of this switch M the door shoes are disabled when the door is shut, for the closing of the door allows switches M and N to close the signal circuit 9 and out off the battery supply which comes from the aforesaid wire 1O by wire 13 and, when the relay contacts are closed, goes, by wire 14 to battery bar D of the door-shoe. The coil of the relay R is connected, between wire 5, which leads to wire 1, to the closing push-button (either C orC) and wire 12 which leads, by wire 11, to the negative battery terminal. The armature of the relay R is also connected to said wire 5.

The doors are shown in their closed position, and, if an opening push-button, as 0 is pressed, a momentary connection will be established from positive battery by wires 10 and 17 to button 0 and thence to wire-2L From wire 2 the current goes, by wire 6, to the door-opening magnet O and thence by wires 8, 12 and 11 to the negative battery terminal. Magnet 0 will thereupon be energized and start the door, which, as it begins to open, also opens the signal circuit at M and N and likewise closes, at M, the contacts in wire 13 aforesaid. This closure of 13 has no normal effect on'the opening of the door; but if, when the door is open, or nearly so, the corresponding closing button C should be pressed, then a momentary battery current will pass from the positive side of the battery to wire 17 aforesaid, thence to the relay coil by way of wires 1 and 5 and thence, by wires 12 and 11, to the negative battery terminal.

The relay armature will then close another battery circuit from point a on positive-bat tery-wire 10 and switch M (which now holds closed its contacts in wire 13) to the door-closing magnet C by way of the relay armature (now attracted) wire 14 and contact bar D, brush F and contact bar K, wire 15 and thence to the negativeside of the battery through wires 8, 12 and 11. At the'same time a branch-maintaining current will 'go from the relay armature to the relay coil and thence, by wire 12, to negative battery wire 11 Thus the relay will, under these door-closing conditions, remain energized, although the aforesaid momentary push-button current by wires 1 and 5 which energized the relay initially, has been immediately thereafter interrupted by the re traction of the push-button C This retention of the relay has no effect on the normal opening or closing of the door, but it is required for the automatic, emergency reversal by the door-shoe. Thus, if the door has been started on its closing trip by pressing momentarily button C as aforesaid, and the shoe P then acts, it closes a circuit between contact bars D and H by way of shoe P and contact point E. Then the current, maintained as aforesaid on contact-bar D'by the relay, passes to bar H and thence to door-opening coil 0, thereby reversing the door and starting it back to its open position. When, however, it is nearly open, brush G leaves bar H and brush F bridges bars D and K. That shifts the aforesaid current on bar D from coil 0 to coil C and the door thereupon makes its second reversal, from opening to closing movement. The door will then proceed'to complete its closing movementunless it again meets an obstruction and repeats its automatic reversal. After its final closure the parts resume the relation shown in the drawing, because the closing of the signalcircuit contacts at M, simultaneously opens at M the connection by wire 13'and relay armature to'the relay coil, which coil during the entire operation, has kept the positive battery current on bar D. This maintaining of said current on D is therefore merely for the purpose of admitting said current to coil C in the emergency of the door-shoe action and for producing in that event the automatic re-reversal and subsequent closure of the door, whereas for its normal manual closure, the momentary presence of said current on bar D (by way of pushbutton C wires 1, 5 and 14) is sufficient. It will be understood that in this system I employ that type of engine-control by a magnet, wherein the magnet merely starts the door by a momentary impulse,'leaving the door engine to go on to the end of its stroke and then stop automatically by the mechanical shifting of its control agency. That is in distinction from devices wherein the engine valve is only .open so long as the current in the magnet is maintained and the door stops when that current is interrupted.

In control mechanism such as that dis-v door opening side, the effect of which is to instantly reverse the door movement. This movement continues until the door reaches the limit of its opening movement or at least until the magnet coil C is again energized.

It will be observed that the aforesaid bar D is the battery bar from which current is delivered to closing coil C, by means of brush F and bar K, or to opening coil 0 by the door-shoe contacts, through brushes F and G, (which, during the closing bridge bar D and H). The connection of bar D with the battery is controlled bv the 'doorarm switch M and by relay R; while, for the purpose of enabling bar D to supply battery-current to opening magnet O during the closing run, its control by relay R is prolonged by retaining the relay energized through said closing run. The closing of the door-shoe contacts does not interrupt the battery-supply circuit which relay R maintains, but merely introduces to dooropening coil 0 the current thus supplied. Such introduction may occur at any time during the closing run while brush G is on bar H.

The magnets O and C are illustrated diagrammatically and no attempt has been made to show the valves controlled thereby or the door motor controlled by said valve beyond the indicated connection of the lever S with a source of power. Such illustration is considered unnecessary because all of these elements are well-known and well understood by those skilled in the art, and many types of such structures are illustrated in numerous patents already granted. Aside from this, the motor structure forms no part of the present invention and is not claimed herein. If desired a suitable switch may be interposed between the wires 17 and the push button elements so that any push button assembly may be rendered inoperative by breaking the circuit through the medium of the switch.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The combination with a car door and its door-shoe contacts, of a current-supply conductor, a door-opening magnet, means controlled by said door-shoe contacts for connecting said conductor to said magnet, a switch between said conductor and a battery, maintaining means for. holding said switch closed during the closing run of the door, and a contact for-automatically reversing the door at the end of its opening run when said holding means is effected.

2. The combination with a car door and its door-shoe contacts, of a current-supply conductor, a door-opening magnet controlled by said door-shoe contacts, a relay operated by a door-closing switch to connect said supply conductor to a source of current, a

maintaining circuit for said relay, and a Contact for connecting said supply conductor to the door closing magnet at the end of circuit-closer, a relay controlled by the doorclosing switch for completingthe connection of said'conductorto the battery, and contacts controlled by the door-shoe to connect said. conductor with the door-opening magnet.

.4. The combination with a car door and its door-shoe, of a 'door-opening magnet, contacts controlled by the door-shoe for energizing said magnet, a door-closing magnet, a contact for automatically energizing said closing-magnet at theend of the, opening run, and a supply conductor controlled by the door-closing switch for supplying each of said magnets with current.

5. The combination with a car door and its motor, of a door-opening magnet normally connected to one side of the current source, and to the manualcontro-l switch on the other side of said source, a door-closing magnet having its circuit normally open at relay contacts, a. relay for closing. said contacts and a manual control switch in the operating circuit of said relay. I

6. The combination with a car door and its motor, of a door-opening magnet, a circuit and control switch for operating saidmagnet independently of the door movement, a door-closing magnet, a circuit therefor having one set of contacts closed by the door and a second set closed by a relay, and

a circuit and control switch for said relay.

7. The combination with a car door and its motor of a door-shoe, a door-opening magnet controlled by a manual switch and also by the door-shoe, a door-closing magnet, contacts controlled by the door movement contained in the circuit of the door-closing.

magnet, contacts I controlled by the door movement contained in the circuit of the door-opening magnet, and a relay for main taining the source of current in connection with said contracts in the door-opening circuit during the closing run of the door.

- 8. The combination with'a door and its operating motor, of a door-closing magnet and circuit therefor, a door-opening magnet and circuit therefor, a door-shoe, door-operv ated contacts for thecircuit of said shoe, and stationary conductors connected to the respective magnets and engaged by said door-operated contacts for connecting the source of current to the door-closing. and the door-opening magnetsin succession.

9. The combination vvlth a car door and its operating motor, of electromagnetic controlling devices for said motor, a door-shoe for opening the door on encountering an obstruction, and disabling contacts for said door-shoe operated by the motor at the end of its closing run.

10. The combination with a car door and its operating motor, of electromagnetic con trolling devices for said motor, a door-shoe for opening the door on encountering an obstruction, a signal circuit, disabling contacts for said door-shoe and means operated by the motor for closing the door-shoe circuit as the signal circuit is opened.

11. The combination with a car door and its operating motor, of electromagnetic controlling devices for said motor, a door-shoe and contacts operated thereby for the dooropening magnet, a battery, a conductor leading from the battery and including the doorshoe contacts, and a circuit-breaker operated by the door engine for interrupting the connection of the battery and door-shoe contacts when the door is in closed position.

12. The combination with a car door and its operating motor, of a yielding door-shoe, a magnet for the door-opening movement of the motor co-ntrolled'by said door-shoe,and meansdependent on the relation of the door motor to the door for disabling said shoe when the door is closed. e I

13. The combination with a car door and its operating motor, of a rotary driving'arrn between the door and motor that is approximately horizontal when the door is closed, a door-shoe, a door-opening magnet controlled by the shoe and means dependent on the relation of the door motor to the door for disabling said shoe when the door is closed.

Signed at Albany, county'of Albany and New York, this 18th day of April,

State of v GEORG E. ()AKLEY, 

